“Nobody spoiled for a fight like a group of Downside hookers around the corpse of one of their own.”

“Meaning to ask, where'd all them scratches come from? Lookin like you had yourself a knife fight with a dwarf, aye?”

“She doubted he'd take too kindly to her fighting with them, no matter how much he liked having her in his bed.”

“When had being an addict gotten so fucking hard? So exhausting? It had been so easy for so long; she had a steady supply, she kept to herself, nobody bothered her. Now she was constantly up to her ears in intrigue and complications, being torn in every direction but her own, all thanks to her need for those pills”

“People, she was discovering, were like cockroaches: If you allowed one in, more were sure to follow.”

“That was the problem with love, though, wasn't it. It couldn't be helped, couldn't be controlled. It just roared in and took whatever it wanted, destroyed whatever it wanted; the most dangerous addiction of all, because nobody survived it intact. But an addiction that was impossible to let go.”

“Changed my thought. Let’s us go. Back my place, aye?” He was smiling, that smile she’d always loved, while his hands distracted her and his body warmed her through her clothes. Summer drew closer every day, and the temperatures reflected that, but it seemed like she was always cold when he wasn’t around. “C’mon.”